Decommissioned MiG-21 Soviet jet, completely covered with millions of multicolored glass beads

📷 On June 21, 2025, the Museum of Flight in Seattle premiered an unusual art object: a decommissioned MiG-21 Soviet jet, completely covered with millions of multicolored glass beads.
The project author is South African artist Ralph Ziman, known for his "reinterpretation" of military equipment using traditional beadwork techniques.

The work on the MiG-21 lasted five years and involved about 100 artisans from Zimbabwe and South Africa. The surface of the aircraft is a fabric made up of tens of millions of beads, hand-fixed onto the aluminum fuselage.
The decorations cover the entire fuselage and wing, while the cockpit lines are highlighted by luminescent glass. As a result, the aircraft appears as a gigantic "living canvas," shifting in color and rhythm.

The MiG-21 is an iconic Cold War era fighter, built in over 11,000 units and used in dozens of countries. Now, one of them has become a world-renowned work of art. Photo uretskyaviation / Isaac Alexander.